Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

blacken

/ˈblækən/ verb

Forms blackens blackening blackened

  1. verb (transitive, causative) To cause to be or become black.
  2. verb (intransitive, ergative) To become black. “The sky blackened as the storm clouds rolled in.”
  3. verb (transitive, causative) To make dirty.
  4. verb To defame or sully.
  5. verb (transitive) To cook (meat or fish) by coating with pepper, etc., and quickly searing in a hot pan.

Synonyms

black denigrate black up forswart swarten dirty soil assoil beclart bedaub bedirty imbrue (especially with blood) bedizen befile befilth befoul begrime beray beshit besmear melanize melanise nigrify char sear scorch

Antonyms

whiten

Etymology

From Middle English blaknen, blakkenen, equivalent to black + -en (verbal suffix).

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To make or render black.
  2. verb To make dark; to darken; to cloud. "Blackened the whole heavens." South.
  3. verb To grow black or dark.

Etymology [See Black, a., and cf. Black, v. t.]

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “blacken”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details